Prior posts have discussed the Cambrian explosion, and noted the evidence suggesting that it was a more gradual process than stereotypically described. However, there has been little solid evidence to explain why, following this alleged burst of complex life, a substantial extinction set in. As with...

By Laura Mulry, Fellow, Center for Climate Change, Columbia Law School
April 2011 was an eventful month for massive solar projects in California and their unlikely opponent: the desert tortoise. As climate change, overpopulation, and development place ever more plant and animal species at risk of...

Prior posts have noted the slowly mounting evidence that the "Clovis first" hypothesis is flawed (that is, that people with a uniquely sophisticated fluted blade were the first human occupants of North America and came to North America between 13,100 and 12,800 years ago). A number of sites...

By Laura Mulry, Fellow, Center for Climate Change, Columbia Law School
April 2011 was an eventful month for massive solar projects in California and their unlikely opponent: the desert tortoise. As climate change, overpopulation, and development place ever more plant and animal species at risk of...

By Laura Mulry, Fellow, Center for Climate Change, Columbia Law School
April 2011 was an eventful month for massive solar projects in California and their unlikely opponent: the desert tortoise. As climate change, overpopulation, and development place ever more plant and animal species at risk of extinction...

Leda Huta, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition
In 1973, Richard Nixon, a Republican president, didn't just sign the U.S. Endangered Species Act into law. His administration played a very large role in actually crafting this forward-thinking legislation. Looking at the new House Republicans...

Leda Huta, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition
If you were to choose a route through which to move toxic, highly corrosive, sludgy crude oil, would you place it on the same narrow corridor used by one of the world's most endangered birds? The Canadian energy company TransCanada did...

By Leda Huta, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition
If you were to choose a route through which to move toxic, highly corrosive, sludgy crude oil, would you place it on the same narrow corridor used by one of the world's most endangered birds? The Canadian energy company TransCanada...

No matter how we try to minimize fossil fuel impacts, we can't avoid the fact that these substances are inherently dirty. Oil, gas and coal are at their core, toxic substances. And as a result they are dangerous to humans and wildlife.
The ten species most threatened by fossil fuels were recently...

By Jessica K. Ferrell, Partner, Marten Law PLLC
Excerpt from the Commentary:
In this Emerging Issues Analysis, Jessica Ferrell of Marten Law PLLC discusses a proposed rule that would require the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NOAA Fisheries to publish a draft economic analysis for public...

As we have written before , the Greater Sage Grouse is on the verge of extinction, likely due to habitat loss related oil and gas development. Prompted by litigation , the federal government finally issued an Emergency Order to protect the grouse in December 2013.
In January 2014, experts gathered...

By Meredith James
In July, the US Fish and Wildlife Service launched a website to “communicate the breadth of the ongoing conservation actions underway to support Greater Sage-Grouse and the sage brush habitat the bird and 350 other species need.”
The Greater Sage-Grouse website highlights...